Conroy’s Christmas present, Internet censorship #nocleanfeed

Stephen Conroy has delivered his Christmas present early, ISP level Internet filter. Tuesday afternoon the government announced that was giving the green light to its controversial censorship plan. And Conroy stated that we can look forward to legislation being introduced next year, ahead of the election.

Yesterday news sites, blogs and twitter erupted in a furore over the plans. Below are some articles on the subject I though were interesting:

China Closes Down The Internet (Gordon G. Chang, Forbes, 25 Dec 2009)
The Chinese government has a thing against porn on the Internet. They have an existing black list policy and filtering solution, but stuff still gets through. So they are going to implement a ‘white list’ policy, where all sites have to register to be added to the white list. All this just to block porn.
Can anyone else see the parallels here?

On ABC3 and Internet Filtering (Will Briggs, God’s’Will, 1 Jan 2010)
An Anglican minister’s view on why TV and the Internet are not the same thing, and why they should be classified differently.

Edit 2010.01.02

Dangerous Assumptions (The Sleepydumpling, 2 Jan 2010)
Why both sides of the Internet filter debate need to stop seeing each other as the enemy. And why focus should be changed to, why is the government trying to censor the Internet?

Help Stop the Tyranny of Censorship (2 Jan 2010)
Why the government should not be censoring the Internet. And why the money would be better spent on parent education and police to enforce existing laws.

ISP filter trial company stands by test results (David Ramli, ARN, 6 Jan 2010)
Company behind the trials, Enex, is happy to see an audit of the report. And they see no why a heaver load would adversely effect the filters. “The number of people who are on the filter itself, the number of people on the system and whether they’re being filtered or not, is irrelevant,“

Outrage and Fear (Leslie, Department of Internets, 3 Jan 2010)
The pro filter site has harnessed ‘fear’. The anti filter side is having trouble harnessing it. Perhaps they need to harness another emotion.

The No Clean Feed Campaign (traediras, deviantART, 6 Jan 2010)
An artist worried about how the filter will affect the careers of artists and potential artists.

How Conroy Has Won on Mandatory Internet Filtering (Alex Schlotzer, The Angle, 23 Dec 2009)
Analysis that the current anti-filter campaign is too divided. That people need to think about the politics of the situation, and focus their efforts where they are more useful. This means selecting the right bodies to lobby. And getting the off -line public involved.

China: Reaffirms Plans to “Purify” the Interne (Jared Moya, ZeroPaid, 1 Jan 2010)
China’s intensive censorship of the Internet is justified as removing porn so as to preserve “national long-term stability,” build a “harmonious socialist society,” and prevent the “poisoning of young people’s physical and mental health,”. Australian Internet filtering is being proposed to remove child p-rn. You can draw the paralels. This is what people are worried about.

Taking control of the campaign against internet censorship (Kathryn, No Internet Censorship, 8 Jan 2010)
The Australian Democrats’ calling for a unified front in campaigning against. That there needs to be a single body to push, rather than 3 diffeent political parties pushing a slightly different adgenda.

D’Oh: Embarrassed Canada Zaps Thousands Of Web Sites In Response To Yes Men Hoax (Justin Elliott, TPMMuckraker, 7 Jan 2010)
The Canadian government managed to temporarily wipe out 4,500 personal and small business Web sites last month as it frantically grappled with a climate change hoax by the Yes Men. How many ‘inadvertantly’ blocked sites can we look forward to in Australia as a result of the filter ploicy?

Russia may restrict online adult content during the day (Matthew Humphries, Geek.com, 8 Jan 2010)
Rusia is looking to pass a law that would block access to adult contenton the Internet between noon and 6pm, bringing it in line with TV. How they intend to implement this is another question.

Iran publishes banned websites list (AAP, 7News, 8 Jan 2010)
Iran, unlike the proposed Australian filter system, has published a list of banned sites. Where are the checks and balances on a secret blacklist?

WTO can take on censorship (kubiske, World of Journalism, 7 Nov 2009)
The WTO is looking at chalenging China’s filtering regeim based on it being a restriction of trade. Would a similar chalenge work agaist the Australian system?

Long time coming (Verity Pravda, The Interweb Warrior, 15 dec 2009)
Conroy has released his report on the filter. There is no impact on the Internet from the filters. We should accept that the internet will be censored like other media.

Conroy sells NBN at CES (David Ramli, ARN, 11 Jan 2010)
Conroy sell he promise of the NBN at CES, but fails to mention the proposed Internet filter, or what effect it might have on said highspeed network.

Mr. Stephen Conroy, what exactly are you hiding? (G-Funk, The Fascist Donkey, 11 Jan 2010)
China’s Internet filtering policy started with a similar small blacklist in 1996, and now sites must be white listed to view them. Where is Conroy going with the filter proposal?

The potential effects of being blacklisted (Letitia Power, feedia, 12 Jan 2010)
What will the cost of the filters be to business? Not just the cost of implementing the filter, but also the cost to business of being incorrectly blacklisted. And who will be responsible for this mistaken identity?

Protecting children online takes more than a filter (Ray Cleary, SMH, 14 Jan 2010)
The chairman of the Melbourne Anglican Social Responsibilities Committee thinks that parents need to take more responsibility for monitoring their children. Stating that the filters are just parents abdicating responsability for childcare to the government.

Australia, Strangled by Censors (archiearchive FCD, 11 Jan 2010)
Commenting that the Internet filter will not be used just to block CP, but to control what is considered art, much like the German and Rusian governments in the 1930’s. How once in place the amount caught be the filter will just increase in size depending on the lobby group of the day.

A new approach to China (David Drummond, Google, 12 Jan 2010)
Google has become concerned about the censorship and pursuit of human rights activists in China. It is considering closing its operation as a result. How long would Australia have to wait for the same thing to happen if the filter gets put into place?

Edit 2010.01.16

Web filters mean bad news for business (Liau Yun Qing, ZDNet Asia, 11 Jan 2010)
Talking about the extra costs the filter could add to business: increase the cost of Internet connection; slow down address; the cost of being (incorrectly) blacklisted, and loss of business that would result from people being unable to to connect to you.

Government Promise on Internet Pornography Filtering Welcome (Steve Fielding, 10 August 2007)
Possibly the real reason for the mandatory Internet filters. Steve Fielding’s beliefe that parents are incapable of monitoring their child’s Internet use. Of course, this is from the person who attended parliament while (potentially) infected with Swine Flu.

Internet filter ferals blacklist Lundy (James Riley, iTWire, 14 Jan 2010)
James writes about how the Internet filter isn’t unreasonable and questions why people are criticising Kate Lundy’s stance on the filter. A misguided IT professional? Best advice is “Don’t feed the trolls”.

Searching questions (Trefor Moss, Monocle, 15 Jan 2010)
Commentary about Google’s dealings with China. The interesting part is the second last paragraph, Lee Kuan Yew (the former leader of authoritarian Singapore) admits that Internet censorship is a waste of time.

China throws rotten tomatoes at IMDb (John Ozimek, The Register, 14 Jan 2010)
China blocks the IMDb to ‘protect its citizens from the corrupting influence’ of the Internet. Sound like a certain Australian filter proposal.

Tough filter campaign ahead: Black (Josh Mehlman, ZDNet.com.au, 14 Jan 2010)
Peter Black interviewed about the tough campaigning ahead to convince the government to change its mind, or get the Liberals and Greens to vote against the legislation in the Senate.

Australian Internet Blackout (Leefe Hicks, 23 Jan 2010)
A WordPress plugin that makes it easier to participate in the protest by automatically adding the necessary JavaScript to your blog.

Framing the internet filter debate (Michela Ledwidge, The Scavenger, Jan 2010)
Questioning who is framing the Internet filter debate. And with lack on information from the government is this just a strawman policy?

Call out for videos on the Internet filter (hungrybeast, ABC, 26 Jan 2010)
Hungry Beast is calling for people to submit video stories about the Internet filters, which will be included in a new story and displayed on their site.

Depictions of Female Orgasm Being Banned by Classification Board (Fiona Patten, Australian Sex Party, 27 Jan 2010)
Talking about that fact that what is deemed RC by has already been increased to include female ejaculation and women with A cup breasts. And questions if the government wants to move back in to the Victorian era.

Open government is Rudd’s aim (Joe Ludwig, SMH, 2010)
Joe Ludwig wafting on about transparent government, and comments comparing his speach to Yes Minister.

Mr Conroy (Q-Ball, Smegheads, 27 Jan 2010)
A song about Stephen Conroy and the Internet filter.

Now Australia Is Banning Small Boobs (Ms Naughty, 27 Jan 2010)
Complaining that the Australian Classification Board are now defining what are acceptable body images for women. That women are no longer allowed to have small breasts or orgasm.

www.pipenetworks.com joins blackout (Bevan, Whirlpool, 27 Jan 2010)
A well written letter about the flaws of the proposed filter, how it will lul parents into a false sense of security and how better eduction about the internet for parents is the key to protecting children.

Labor gags internet debate (Michael McGuire, AdelaideNow, 2 Feb 2010)
In South Australia, on 6 January, a new law came into force requiring the real name and address to be published for all comments about the state election.

Some key message ideas for #NoCleanFeed (Alexander White, 21 Dec 2009)
Ideas about what you can say to the average Joe on the street about the Internet Filters. How to connect with the real target audience, and not just overload them with techno babble.

What about the filter? (comms_consult, The Insiders, 21 Feb 2010)
Explaining why Conry wasn’t quizzed about the filter on The Insider. It is not current news. Suggestions about how to make it so, or relevant to the average Joe. Though the last comment needs some work, as it looks like admitting that there should be filter.

Crackdown on Internet racism ill-thought out (Colin Jacobs, EFA, 22 Feb 2010)
Commentry about the government’s knee-jerk reaction of proposing laws to counter a perceived ‘cyber racisim’ without properly understanding the issue, or thinking about the best way to deal with it.

ENVIRONMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS LEGISLATION COMMITTEE – 08/02/2010
Noted for its mention of dropping the case against Wikileaks. But it is worth noting the following question by Lublam:Senator LUDLAM — What is the ACMA’s current annual budget for those referrals to the Classification Board and how much do they cost per referral?
How much does it cost to classify each URL as unclassifiable, and will they run out of money to get links classified?
If the ACMA run out of money will they just be randomly classifying URLs themselves?

Federal Government to establish cyber-safety committee (EFA, OpenInternet, 26 Feb 2010)
The government is/was to setup a Cyber-safety committee to report about child safty, cyber bullying and identity theft (amoungst other things). And the final report is to be presented by 11 February 2011. Shouldn’t the Internet filter thing be put off till the report is tabled then?

Dealing with the dark side of Facebook (Courtney Trenwith, SMH, 27 Feb 2010)
How governments are reacting without thinking to the online world. How governments are trying to create new laws, without first trying existing laws.

Why Conroy loves porn (aturner, SMH, 17 Feb 2010)
Commenting that talk about porn is playing into Conroy’s hands. It is easy for conroy to use porn to baint a black picture of the internet.

Parramatta 6th. March 2010 Xenogene Gray (nocensorshipaus, YouTube, 6 Mar 2010)
On 6th. March in Parramatta Park Xenogene Gray spoke about the Internet Filter and aspects of law.. The Parramatta rally/picnic was part of a National Day of Action against the proposed mandatory

Internet filter draft legislation delayed (James Riley, iTWire, 16 Mar 2010)
“Communications Minister Stephen Conroy had planned for the internet filter to be debated this week, but his office confirmed the drafting of the legislation was still not complete and discussions with ISPs and other stakeholders on outstanding issues were still taking place.”

Internet is 99 per cent porn free (Iain Thomson, V3, 15 Mar 2010)
A USA government study found that only 1 percent of the internet is porn. Why break 99% of the sites to block 1% ?

Google to rout all traffic from Google.cn to Google.com.hk by passing the Chinese censorship.

Child vampire hunters sparked comic crackdown (Stuart Nicolson, BBC, 22 Mar 2010)
In 1954 the Scottish government banned comics to stop a group of child vampire hunters. Proven by academia to be unrelated. Sounds like the current Australian government’s decision to filter the Internet to stop pedophiles.

Nine questions ACMA ruling on gay sex scene (David Knox, TV Tonight, 23 Mar 2010)
The ACMA seems to have a double standard with regard to gay and straight sex. Ruling that an episode of Dante’s Cove in the Nine Network’s GO! was above the MA rating. Can we look forward to similar mixed messages when they start rating the Internet?

Labor divided on internet filtering plan (Fran Foo, The Australian, 23 Mar 2010)
Is the Internet Censorship legislation being delay, not for the stated ‘getting the framework right’ reason, but due to internal ALP division?

Porn links posted on Fielding’s website (ABC, 23 Mar 2010)
Showing that Steve Fielding really doesn’t understand the Internet. Or that if you stuck up public forums and don’t moderate them they will accumulate spam (including spam in Rusian).

Stephen Conroy and US at odds on net filter (Paul Colgan and Geoff Elliott, The Australian, 29 Mar 2010)
THE Obama administration has questioned the Rudd government’s plan to introduce an internet filter, saying it runs contrary to the US’s foreign policy of encouraging an open internet to spread economic growth and global security.

AFP: Child sex abuse websites hard to track (EFA, 30 Mar 2010)The Australian reports that the Australian Federal Police have confirmed that web pages that contain child sexual abuse material change within hours and are difficult to identify or track, further weakening the arguments of those who support the policy of mandatory Internet filtering.

Your internet policy sucks, US tells Aussies (John Ozimek, The Register, 30 Mar 2010)Critics of the Australia’s proposed internet filtering scheme just keep on coming. This week, it’s the turn of one of Australia’s biggest and most formidable allies, the United States, to put the boot into a scheme that would turn Australia into the free world’s strictest regulator of internet content.

Child-abuse survivors oppose EU censorwall (Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing, 25 Mar 2010)
Noting the oposition to Internet censorship in the EU by child-adbuse survivors, who believe that blocking sites in ineffective and just ignoring the problem.

US reveals concerns over Conroy’s net filter plan (Paul Colgan, The Punch, 29 Mar 2010)“We do not discuss the details of specific diplomatic exchanges, but can say that in the context of that ongoing relationship, we have raised our concerns on this matter with Australian officials.”

Reseller throws filter hacking masterclass (Liz Tay, itnews, 6 Apr 2010)
A Newcastle-based computer help desk business has become one of the first organisations in Australia to host a masterclass on how to “hack” the Federal Government’s planned internet filter.

ACTA treaty draws fire in NZ submissions (Computerworld staff, 6 Apr 2010)
InternetNZ and the New Zealand Open Source Society have released their submissions to the Ministry of Economic Development’s consultation on this month’s ACTA negotiations, with the two organisations taking different, but equally critical tacks on the issue.

Q&A Question on ISP Level Filtering 12th. April 2010 ABC TV (YouTube, 12 April 2010)
A question is raised concerning the mandatory ISP level filtering plan of the Australian Labor Government which is answered by various members of the panel including Jeff Bleich US Ambassador to Australia, Joe Hockey of the Australian Liberal Party of Australia and Tanya Pilberseck of the Australian Labor Party.

A Question and an Answer (Erin Riley, United States Studies Centre USyd, 13 April 2010)
Commenting on the quewtion she asked the American Ambassador on ABC’s Q & A.

Filtering on Q & A (EFA, Open Internet, 13 April 2010)
Video of The US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, as well as the Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, and the Minister for Housing and the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, all commented on the filtering policy on the ABC current affairs panel show Q & A.

ISP filtering bill delayed indefinitely (David Ramli, ARN, 21 April 2010)
The Labor party has delayed its internal vote on mandatory filtering indefinitely and revealed the draft bill has not been completed. The vote was originally expected to be held mid-March.

Is the Aussie govt too fond of censorship? (Suzanne Tindal, ZDNet.com.au, 21 April 2010)
Google’s statistics released today on how often governments have asked for information on users or issued take-down requests showed that Google has often ignored Australian government requests.

FORTWallace (8 October 2009)
Questioning Jim Wallace about how the church can claim the moral highground with so many pedophilia cases against members of the church.

So Conroy; What can you get on DVD? (Dan Buzzard, 25 April 2010)
The Internet is much more than simply another form of Media. It has taken on a life of it’s own and now serves as a primary communication in our society. It’s time to start calling Conroy out on his false analogies.

No plan for crackdown on internet racism (Josh Gordon, SMH, 25 April 2010)
“AUSTRALIA’S anti-discrimination laws are unlikely to be strengthened to tackle racism on the internet despite a doubling in the number of official complaints about offensive content in the past two years.”
Say no to CP, but racism is ok.

Cleanternet
A parody video about the EU’s proposed Internet filters. The desire to blog content rather than remove it. Sounds much like the Australian proposal.

Deep in the heart of Adelaide with Tony Zappia (Simon Garlick, 25 April 2010)
Zappia asked why there was so much consternation over the filter if it would be, as I claimed, so easily bypassed. While light-hearted his reply seemed to be in essence “well, if it’s not actually going to do anything, what’s the problem? No harm done!”

687 ISPs invited to secret filter forum (Ben Grubb, ZDNet.com.au, 30 April 2010)
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s office has said that 687 internet service providers (ISPs) were invited to participate in the protected online forum to discuss issues around the planned mandatory filter to block “refused classification” material on the internet.

Pirate Party: Circumvention promotion offence like Iran, China (Renai LeMay, iTWire, 30 April 2010)
The Pirate Party Australia has likened the idea being discussed by the Federal broadband department that promotion of circumvention of the internet filter could become an offence to opporessive censorship regimes in Iran and China.

Govt ‘committed to internet filter’ (AAP, SMH, 29 April 2010)
Government spokesman denys that they have abandoned the Manditory Internet Filter policy before the next election.

Reports of the filter’s death are premature (Darryl Adams, 30 April 2010)
Think the filter is dead, just because it’s delayed? Think again — this is a tactic to get ‘a clear mandate’ at the next election to implement it. “Vote Labor, vote filter.”